Effect of Electrolytic Ionic Size on Transport Through Nano Porous Track Etch Membrane

Pages:72-74
Ravish Garg1, R. P. Chauhan2, Dinesh Kumar3 and S.K. Chakarvarti4 (Department of Biomedical Engineering, GJUS&T, Hisar, India1, Department of Physics, NIT, Kurukshetra, India2, Department of Electronic, Science, K U Kurukshetra, India3, Manav Rachna International University, MRIU, Faridabad, India4)

Ionic size of electrolyte is an important factor in transport phenomena through porous track etch membranes (TEMs) and affects the various applications like membrane separations, drug delivery, and cell size determination etc., based on separation and transport processes. Therefore, a better understanding of transport mechanism through TEMs is required for new applications in various thrust areas. Ion transport studies of electrolytic solutions through etched cylindrical pores of few nm diameters have been carried out using an electrochemical cell. In this technique, the etched filter is sandwiched between two compartments in electrochemical cell in such a way that the etched filter acts as a membrane separating the cell into two chambers. The two chambers are then filled with desired electrolyte solution whose transport is to be measured. Different electrolytic ionic solutions with different concentrations have been chosen for conduction measurements through etched pores. The current voltage characteristics have been drawn by stepping the voltage between -10 to +10 V. The results indicate that rate of ion transport through cylindrical pores is influenced by size of cations and independent of the size of anions. Effect of concentration on ion transport has also been studied which indicates that ion transport increases with increase in concentration.